Creating a silhouette from a photo is nothing new, but with Illustrator CS4′s new Blob Brush tool, it has become a lot easier. Corey demonstrates how to use the Blog Brush tool to create a silhouette, and how to create some quick background effects using the Gradient Mesh tool.
Author: Corey Barker
Corey is the newest education and curriculum developer for the National Association of Photoshop Professionals. He is a graduate of the Ringling School of Art & Design in Sarasota, Fl, with a degree in Illustration. Over the years, Corey has worked as a graphic artist in a variety of disciplines such as illustration, commercial design, large format printing, motion graphics, web design and photography. His expertise in Photoshop and Illustrator have earned him numerous awards in illustration, graphic design and photography. Using Photoshop since Version 2, his expertise and creativity have evolved exponentially with every new version, which makes Corey an invaluable addition to the NAPP team.
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Excellent-Thanks.
That’s cool, but I don’t know if I could function without the FilterIt plug-in… and it is an extra step to fill in certain shapes, but it’s not difficult. Thanks for the tutorial. I will consider it when I do decide to upgrade from CS 3.
hello! I´m from Argentina, this is really good! (sorry about my english! ja) THANK YOU!!
Laura
you learn something new everyday!
Debating to sign up for layer magazine since I am using only Photoshop Elements. The website is very good, and I will consider the magazine and resources in the future.
thank you very much
hi, thanks for the vid,
when im using the blob tool, it doesnt seem to join with the target picture?
whats up?
Hi everyone,
I’ve been trying out your tut i’m also having the same problem with the blob tool. The areas where i use it doesn’t join with the object to become one object. And after putting my rectangle behind my silhoutte, i guess my image has to be tranparent I’ll have to keep trying. Great tut and thx
Your tut doesn’t work, either your forgeting to tell us something like a setting with the blob tool or something with the image. I’ve tried everything and it doesn’t work.
[...] Simple Silhouettes in Illustrator CS4 Apply silhouettes onto objects by utilizing the Gradient Mesh tool. [...]
Is there something wrong with the site? I’m not able to view any of the video tutorials form CS4. I have the design suite.
[...] Simple Silhouettes in Illustrator CS4 Apply silhouettes onto objects by utilizing the Gradient Mesh tool. [...]
[...] Simple Silhouettes in Illustrator CS4 Apply silhouettes onto objects by utilizing the Gradient Mesh tool. [...]
[...] Simple Silhouettes in Illustrator CS4 Apply silhouettes onto objects by utilizing the Gradient Mesh tool. [...]
You probably forgot to expand the image?
[...] Simple Silhouettes in Illustrator CS4 Apply silhouettes onto objects by utilizing the Gradient Mesh tool. [...]
great, blud!
cheers
I learned more from this site then I have learned in school.
Hi ive been following you tutorials every single day! the thing is that the more i learn with you guys more hungry i am! you guys are the best! Keep doing it!!!
KC
similar, easier method that will keep you from having to paint in all night long:
in livetrace options select “ignore white”
expand.
then go to Object>Compound Path>Relese Compound path.
this will remove any holes in the main shape.
then in your pathfinder hit “merge” (the third one in)
boom. done. no painting.
you might run into some problems if the outside big shape isn’t connected. but if i were to do this very same action with this very same picture i’d be done faster.
people need to learn how to use the pathfinder.
you guys are awesome; thanks.
why not just increase the threshold?
worked for me
I do not speak English well, so do not understand, but also were working with the Apple operating system..
Thanks anyway =D
Kisss
Whenever I hit “expand,” the fill swatch turns into a ? mark and my blob tool will paint white. If I try to change it to black it just paints my whole rectangle black!! help?
thanks mate for this post (visit my one: http://tinyurl.com/djso5c)
Maybe this is just a Safari glitch, but none of the tutorial videos show up – only white space where the video player would be expected to be. I use a MacBook Pro 2.53 GHz, OS X 10.5.6, Safari 3.2.1 and with Flash Player 10.0 installed.
With Firefox 3.0.8, on the other hand, everything seems ok.
Does anyone else have problems using Safari?
Thank you. Great tutorial!
Ana. Before you change the color, you have to deselect the object (click elsewhere using the selection tool), then choose the Blob tool and then choose the new color.
For the issue with the paths not being removed after painting, be sure that you select Expand from the Objects menu (not using the Expand Button). Be sure the only box checked is Objects (remove the Fill check). Now paint using the Blob Brush Tool.
Good Tutorial
Can you show the Blob brush tool in other capacities? The way you used it in the example seemed a little more tedious than simply clicking & deleting the white areas (since they were inside the dominant black area already) or even further customizing/previewing the live trace settings.
[...] Simple Silhouettes in Illustrator CS4 [...]
i love your voice!!! awesome tutorial!
corey u are damn good. i must confess u guys are the best
ophlex, Ghana
mmm, i think it’s easier if you double click on the object and select a white shape, then go to select—> same—> fill color, paint everything black, then use the pathfinder—>unite.
Tnx for sharing
Thank you for a very nice tutorial using blob brush and gradient mesh tool – I like the effects
Ching
[...] Simple Silhouettes in Illustrator CS4 Apply silhouettes onto objects by utilizing the Gradient Mesh tool. [...]
thankyou very much , easy tutorial and clears come concepts